An electrical problem is the likely cause of the Saturday morning duplex fire in Lower Sackville that claimed two lives.

“Our fire investigators have concluded their work and the evidence points to an electrical fault as the cause,” Halifax Fire Chief Ken Stuebing said at a Monday afternoon briefing at the department’s office at Alderney Gate in Dartmouth.

Police and fire crews responded to the call at 34 Leaside Dr., off Sackville Drive, at 2:34 a.m Saturday. The victims of the fire have been identified as Marven Hart, 58, and his 11-year-old granddaughter, Carys Barnes.

Stuebing said the fire is not suspicious and that neither police nor the fire department will be laying charges. He said the investigation is continuing but it has been determined that the fire originated in the basement of one of the duplex units.

“At this time, I want to urge those listening or watching at home to make sure you have working smoke alarms on every floor of your homes,” the chief said. “There was one working smoke alarm in this home, but it’s our belief if there had been more than one working smoke alarm, the outcome might have been different.”

Stuebing commended the work of the fire and police personnel at the scene.

“I want to send out my deepest gratitude to our first-responder partners, who stepped in to assist on the weekend, ensuring a devastating situation wasn’t even worse. I want to personally recognize the RCMP officers who acted quickly to affect a rescue as well as our EMS partners who worked tirelessly to mitigate the loss of the fire. Our firefighters worked to exhaustion to affect the searches and extricate the occupants.”

The RCMP arrived on scene first and officers located a ladder on a nearby property and used it to rescue a 46-year-old woman from a second-storey window. Hart’s wife Pat suffered minor injuries. The couple’s 18-year-old son Trent was taken to the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax with life-threatening injuries.

Stuebing’s message focused on safety and saving lives.

“Do you have a smoke alarm on every floor? Are they within five metres of sleeping quarters? Do you have a carbon monoxide detector? And do you have two clear exits from every room in your house. These are the questions that when you answer ‘yes’ … you can save a life.”

It’s the second tragedy to strike the Hart family in recent weeks. Hart is the brother of Wray Hart, a well-known homeless man who was struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver last month.

Marven Hart died at the scene of the duplex fire and his granddaughter, who was visiting for a sleepover, died at hospital.

“I first want to extend my heartfelt condolences — and those of our firefighters — to the families and local community affected by the tragic circumstances,” Stuebing said.

Alexandra Barnes has started a crowdfunding initiative for her sister Carys.

“I lost my 11-year-old sister Carys early Saturday morning ... to a house fire that broke out at my grandmother’s,” Alexandra wrote on the GoFundMe site. “Her birthday was just next week. She was so full of life and caring and sweet and funny.”

“She was the light of our lives. Any donations at all will help us as we go through such sorrow and pain. We are devastated. She was not the only victim of this fire so our family is going through a lot right now and we still have my step-uncle fighting for his life in the hospital at 18.”

Some respondents on the GoFundMe site offer condolences.

“There are no words in a situation like this. Carys was such a beautiful, funny, smart girl. A true loss to this world,” wrote Melissa Clattenburg.